Last weeks training on Hardangervidda did not go exactly as planned. We promised you updates via satellite, but we could not get the equipment to work as expected. With temperatures as low as -34 centigrades and loose snow in hilly terrain, all our efforts went into keeping up our progress and keeping the daily routine, so we did not spend much time troubleshooting the equipment. Nor did we take a lot of pictures or video film.
We learned a lot during this trip. We had plenty of issues with our equipment. Petter was struggling with his footwear and sleeping mattress. Myself with the satellite phone. Our new tent is smaller and a bit claustrophobic compared to the previous one. We intentionally did not bring enough fuel to actually heat the tent in the evenings. Because we have been training routinely at a higher pace than we usually hike in on skis, we moved too fast and expended ourselves too fast. We worked too hard with our sleds and became sweaty the two first days, resulting in both of us having trouble keeping warm during our brakes. But worst was our mistake during the planning. We had miscalculated the distance from start to finish. It was twice as long as we planned for. As we realized that we were not going to make it to the end point on time, we had to abort the trip early to avoid being stuck in the middle of the mountain without supplies the night before we planned to return to work.
All of these factors weighed heavily on our morale through the whole trip. At one point, energy reserves completely depleted, we briefly discussed if we actually had any business on the Greenland ice cap at all. Luckily – that type of attitude evaporates when one gets a warm meal and some rest. At this point we consider this a great learning experience and head on towards our goal undaunted.
You can see the few pictures we took in the photo album.
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